General RePORT Questions

The RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) website provides access to a variety of reporting tools, reports, data, and analyses of NIH research activities. One of the tools available on the RePORT site is the RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures and Results) module. RePORTER is an electronic tool that allows users to search a repository of NIH-funded research projects and access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding.

The NIH spending categories are those that the NIH has historically reported to Congress and the public. New categories will be considered after the NIH has gained more experience with a new reporting process (RCDC) begun in FY 2008. Existing categories will continue to be refined periodically to reflect scientific advances.

NIH Spending Categories are historically-reported categories of diseases, conditions, or research areas. Beginning in fiscal year 2008, a computerized process has been used at the end of each fiscal year to estimate spending in these categories. Projects by Spending Category for each fiscal year are made available the following fiscal year as part of the next President’s Budget request.

Beginning with fiscal year 2008, detailed information on spending in many historically-reported categories of research is available on the NIH Categorical Spending page, accessible from the RePORT home page. Here, project lists are available that show the cost of each project and the Institute or Center that has provided project funding. These lists can be downloaded to Excel for further analysis. Project lists can also be generated using RePORTER. Select the disease you would like to search on from the “Spending Category” search field and select the Institutes and Centers of interest in the Agency/Institute/Center search field. Be sure to check the "Funding" radio button to search for projects that each Agency/Institute/Center has funded (as opposed to providing programmatic administration). The hit list resulting from the query can be downloaded to Excel for further analysis.

To submit a request to correct an error on RePORT, please use the feedback button found at the bottom of each RePORT page and select "Data quality issues and corrections" from the Topic list. Please include a detailed description of the problem and the information to be changed.

As of 2005, the NIH no longer provides comparative ranking tables on its medical research funding. Instead, NIH has developed a Web-based tool that allows one to determine the dollars awarded to any organization or department. Click on Quick Link- Award Data for Individual Organization on left side of RePORT Home Page to access this page. The tool will also allow you to download aggregate data so that you can conduct your own analysis.

RePORTER does not currently provide this information, but it can be requested. Use the feedback button found at the bottom of each RePORT page and select "Request data or an analysis" from the Topic list.

After the close of each fiscal year on October 31, we begin to update all data reported on an annual basis. Updated reports with the prior fiscal year's data are typically posted to RePORT by the end of December.

Success rates indicate the percentage of reviewed applications that receive funding (excluding reimbursable funding). This is computed on a fiscal year basis. Dividing the number of competing applications funded by the total number of competing applications reviewed determines success rates. Applications that have one or more amendments in the same fiscal year are counted as a single application.